Amendments to Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, Section 504, Concerning Maintenance. Part II
The previous Section 504 entitled maintenance determined the spouses need for maintenance, which applies in all counties in Illinois including Cook County, Lake County Dupage County etc. Thus, all divorce filers living in Palatine, Arlington Heights and Rolling Meadows, would have been subject to this statute. The court under the previous maintenance statute would have looked at several factors when determining when to award maintenance to one spouse over another spouse. However, it should be noted that under the Amendments to Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, Section 504, if the parties’ gross income is greater than $250,000 then the court should bypass the guidelines of the amended maintenance statute and still apply the factors of the previous Section 504.
The factors to be considered are as follows:
(1) The income and property of each party, including marital property apportioned and non-marital property assigned to the party seeking maintenance;
(2) The needs of each party;
(3) The present and future earning capacity of each party;
(4) Any impairment of the present and future earning capacity of the party seeking maintenance due to that party devoting time to domestic duties or having forgone or delayed education, training, employment, or career opportunities due to the marriage;
(5) The time necessary to enable the party seeking maintenance to acquire appropriate education, training, and employment, and whether that party is able to support himself or herself through appropriate employment or is the custodian of a child making it appropriate that the custodian not seek employment;
(6) The standard of living established during the marriage;
(7) The duration of the marriage
(8) The age and the physical and emotional condition of both parties;
(9) The tax consequences of the property division upon the respective economic circumstances of the parties.
(10) Contributions and services by the party seeking maintenance to the education, training, career or career potential, or license of the other spouse;
(11) Any valid agreement of the parties;
(12) Any other factor that the court expressly finds to be just and equitable.
The next article will explore the detailed workings of the new maintenance statute Section 504.
